People and Roles

People come into our lives to fulfill different roles. We can’t control the outcome of other people’s choices, nor can we control their feelings and/or way of thinking.  By allowing people to be themselves, and then determining the role that we will let them play in our lives we will find contentment and acquire a more stable emotional life. When we are obstinate and expect people to fulfill a certain role that their personality and essence just won’t allow them to execute, we find ourselves confused, frustrated, judgemental and disappointed.  Am I suggesting we lower our expectations by settling for what we consider to be a limited potential? No. Mediocrity exists when we don’t expect enough of ourselves. We settle when we stop loving ourselves or stop striving for what we really want to accomplish or obtain; when it comes to people though, we can’t expect or control what they will offer us. Each mind is a world in itself. By having high expectations in ourselves though, we will be able to distinguish those whom are worth it and those who will fulfill the most important and crucial roles in our lives: those who we decide to be emotionally involved with, and/or those who we will love.  To give you a clear example: Nobody likes to be alone all the time. Just like we have physiological needs like food and water, we have emotional needs like acknowledgement and appreciation from others. We need people around us (to socialize) and their affection in order to maintain an emotionally healthy lifestyle. Does this mean that we must want an intimate/emotional relationship with every person we meet? No. That’s not healthy either. Expecting too much affection or becoming obsessed in others leads to frustration and depression.  A great way to maintain equilibrium is to take things slowly, spend sufficient time getting to know the people around us deeply, before determining the role we will allow them to fulfill in our lives. This is a great way to establish constructing friendships, lasting relationships, and even just those fun and exciting encounters